A Kansas Department of Revenue spokeswoman said University Audio Inc. in Lawrence can reopen Friday because the owner paid about $8,000 in sales tax owed to the state.

Revenue agents seized assets from the business, 2319 La., Thursday morning to sell at an auction, but that evening owner Gautam “Tom” Patel said he had paid the store’s outstanding balance and cleared up the matter.

Freda Warfield, a revenue spokeswoman, Friday morning confirmed Patel came up with the payment in full.

“It’s definitely a wake-up call,” Warfield said. “We don’t want to close down businesses, so we’re always glad if a business can come to terms and repay the state.”

The state had said the business — before Thursday — had collected sales tax funds but not remitted them to the state for periods of December 2006 to February 2007, June 2007 and July to December 2009.

Warfield on Thursday said seizures are a last resort after several attempts to collect taxes. Patel said the business had fallen on tough times dating back to opening of a store in Emporia that had lost money.

Drove by there on the way home from work, no seizure notices and the open sign was on so I'm not sure if anything did happen at Wheat State other then them also being on the sales tax delinquency list.

Whew. It's good that he was able to pay the taxes he COLLECTED some FOUR YEARS after he collected them. If I were four years delinquent in paying my bills I would expect someone to take drastic action, too.

case in point - the state filed a $7000 tax judgment against me in 2003 and i was not notified of it until i applied for credit in 2010. i was shocked since i had been receiving refunds on my taxes during that entire time. i have to say, though, it was relatively easy to get it cleared when the revenue department faxed a judgment settlement to the district court.

Do the revenue agents carry guns? I dont think anyone would be able to take anything from me unless they got the draw on me first. How can any government agency just walk in and say "oh we here to take your stuff unless you give us our money." more like "Oh where here to get shot in the face."